Cultural Policing in Dakshina Kannada - Vigilante Attacks on Women and Minorities, 2008-09

CulturalPolicing
in Dakshina
Kannada
Vigilante Attacks on Women and
Minorities, 2008-09
March, 2009
Report by
People’s Union
for Civil
Liberties,
Karnataka
(PUCL-K)

Edition : March, 2009
Published : English Edition : 500 copies
Suggested
Contribution : Rs. 50
Published by : PUCL-K
Cover Design by : Namita Malhotra
Printed by : National Printing Press
Any part of this Report may be freely reproduced, copied or
transmitted as necessary. PUCL-K only asserts the right to be
identified with the reproduced version.
Publishing history

Contents
Chapter I- Introduction ................................................... 1
1.1 Need and Purpose of the Report
1.2 Background to Dakshina Kannada
1.3 Consolidation of Hindutva Forces in Karnataka
1.4 Methodology
Chapter II - Vigilante Attacks in Dakshina Kannada ...... 8
2.1 Amnesia Pub Incident
2.2 Intimidation of Independent Voices
2.3 Valentine’s Day Offensive
2.4 Continuing Attacks with Renewed Impunity
Chapter III - Understanding Cultural Policing in
Dakhina Kannada ......................................26
3.1 Strategy of Cultural Policing
3.2 Role of Organizations Professing Hindutva
3.3 Role of the Police
3.4 Role of the Media
3.5 Role of the Public
3.6 Impact of Cultural Policing
Chapter IV - Cultural Policing leading to Social Apartheid:
Violation of the Constitutional Order .......39
Chapter V - Civil Society’s Response to Cultural Policing ...43
5.1 Komu Souharde Vedike (KSV)
5.2 Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD)
5.3 Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI)
5.4 People’s Movement for Enforcement of
Constitutional Rights and Values
5.5 Celebrating Valentine’s Day
5.6 Pink Chaddi Campaign
5.6 Karnataka State Human Rights Commission

Chapter VI - Dealing with Cultural Policing .................48
6.1 Political Strategy
6.2 Legal Strategy
6.3 Socio-Economic Strategy
Chapter VII - Issues for Further Debate ..........................53
7.1 Legal Issues
7.2 Cultural Issues
Chapter VIII - Recommendations ...................................55
Chapter IX - Postscript ...................................................59
Annexure I : Communal Report Card of Karnataka:
Since the BJP Came to Power.................... 62
Annexure II : Statements of the Home Minister of
Karnataka in Response to Communal
Incidents in Karnataka ............................... 67
Annexure III: Incidents of Cultural Policing Reported in
the English Press ....................................... 72
Annexure IV : Extracts of Incidents of Cutural Policing
Reported in the Kannada Press ................. 81
Annexure V : Orders of the Karnataka State
Human Rights Commission ...................... 92

This Report is dedicated to the many ordinary citizens who have
courageously questioned vigilante acts of cultural policing. In
particular we would like the remember the courageous action of Pawan
Kumar Shetty who jumped into the fray when girls were being
attacked in Amnesia Pub, Mangalore and willingly bore the brunt of
the mob fury thereby helping some of the girls to escape. In the context
of the state’s failure to protect and defend the Constitution, we honour
ordinary citizens who through their actions have tried to ensure that
Constitutionally guaranteed rights remain a lived reality and not
just a parchment of paper.

1.1 Need and Purpose of this Report
It was only after the continuous telecast of the images of the
women who were subjected to a horrific assault by cadres of the
Sri Ram Sene in a pub in Mangalore on January 24, 2009, that
public attention gravitated towards what was happening in
Mangalore. Even prior to this incident, The Hindu and many
other newspapers had for many months reported various incidents
of cultural policing where boys and girls from different religious
communities were attacked merely for being together.
The sense we got from discussions with social activists based
in Dakshina Kannada was that there was a lot more to what was
happening there than was apparent in the sporadic incidents which
made it to the national press. We felt that the kind of incidents
that were coming to the surface, be it the attack on women in the
pub or attacks on anyone who dared to cross religious boundaries
and interact, pointed to a new phase of communal politics.
Hindus and Muslims of different sexes are generally
discouraged from speaking to each other, leave alone allowed to
fall in love with each other. However, when these strictures are
imposed on not just boy-girl love affairs or marriages but extends
to interaction between members of different religious
communities, cultural policing takes on a different dimension.
Self styled vigilante groups have begun to police social interactions
between members of different religious communities such as boys
and girls drinking juice together or sitting together on a bus
merely because they come from different religious communities.
Cultural policing also targets women in particular and lays down
norms with respect to public spaces they can occupy and the
clothes which they can wear.
Cultural policing has as its primary target, young people.
From Shefantunde (16) who was attacked for talking to a Hindu
girl to a college student Shruti for talking to Shabeeb on a bus to
Anishwita (23), Akeel Mohammmad (24) and Pramilla(22) for
drinking juice together, it is the young who have come under
vicious attack. Perhaps we also need to think of young people
not just as victims but indeed as agents of social transformation
who through their everyday acts of fraternal living are fulfilling
Introduction
1
chapterI
Self styled vigilante
groups have begun
to police social
interactions
between members
of different religious
communities such
as boys and girls
drinking juice
together or sitting
together on a bus
merely because they
come from different
religious
communities.

Cultural Policing in Dakshina Kannada2
the promise of the Indian Constitution and thereby imperiling the ideological agenda
of those who see India differently.
It is the everyday acts of living in a multi-religious society which are currently
being rigorously policed and ordered by vigilante Hindu groups. The aim of cultural
policing is to produce a form of social apartheid where the various communities
become self-enclosed structures with inter-community social interaction being
actively discouraged. This makes a mockery of the Indian Constitutional order as
well as Indian traditions of tolerance and pluralism. Hence the developments in
Dakshina Kannada call for urgent national attention.
1.2 Background to Dakshina Kannada
Dakshina Kannada has generally been seen as a very progressive district on most
socio-economic indicators. The district has an area of 4866 square kilometre. The
density of human population is 390 persons per square kilometer. There are 354
villages in the district. The population of the district was 1,897,730 of which 38.43%
is urban as of 2001.The population increased 14.51% from 1991 to 2001, to 15.98%
in the 1981-1991 period.The district is divided into five talukas. Mangalore, Bantwal,
Puttur, Sullia and Belthangady.
The Dakshina Kannada district is in the forefront in education. Primary and
secondary education has reached every section of society. The district’s literacy rate
is far above the national average. The district has also made tremendous progress
in higher education (degree classes and above), especially in the field of professional
education. A host of educational institutes offering courses in medicine, engineering,
pharmacy, nursing, hotel and catering, law and management are located in this
district. Students from different parts of India flock to Dakshina Kannada and
Udupi districts because of high standards of education. The progressive nature of
Dakshina Kannada on gender issues is also attested to by the fact that in the 2001
census, the sex ratio is 1022 females per 1000 males.
In terms of caste composition of the district, Brahmins, Bunts and Christians
have dominated other groups and minorities. This has led to disgruntlement among
the lower castes (Billavas and Moghaveeras), which has been channelized skillfully
by the BJP. The Billavas were predominantly pro-Congress, but now they follow the
Sangh Parivar. Initially, Dakshina Kannada was rightly celebrated for its lower-caste
cultures that were marked by syncretic elements (e.g. the Bhuta cult). However, in
recent times, these inclusive elements have become progressively brahminized, e.g.
“Deivas” (bhutas) became “Devas”. Today, by and large, these inclusive and diverse
cultures have got assimilated into the higher-caste culture. Nowadays, many in the
lower castes tend to look down upon their own Bhuta rituals.

Cultural Policing in Dakshina Kannada 3
Educationally, there is resentment among the lower castes of Catholic
educational institutions as well as of the levels of education achieved by the Christians.
They are also resentful of the Muslims who are perceived to have gone abroad in
larger numbers and reaped the prosperity of Gulf money. Due to the spread of
mass education in Dakshina Kannada, Dalits have access to education but their
consciousness has not been shaped by any significant anti-upper caste struggles.
There is none of the radicalization of sections of the Dalit community that has
happened in other parts of Karnataka.
Prior to land reforms in the 1970’s, there were very few anti-upper caste
mobilizations. After the advent of land reforms, many tenants became owner-
cultivators, but since the tenants were from dominant castes as well, social relations
by and large remained unchanged. The agrarian order however got destabilized
under land reforms. Losing their lands, Bunts switched their support from the
Congress to the BJP.
The development paradigm has been tilted towards big powerful groups, both
farmers and industrialists, and has left out marginalized groups. Land has not
remained with the cultivator. Precious land has been left uncultivated and is lying
fallow because the land now belongs to a host of absentee landlords. Food output
has been traditionally marked by biodiversity, but now it’s being destroyed by
monocultural development. Resentment by Mogaveeras and Billavas towards other
communities has intensified, which has contributed to communal tensions. At the
same time, class disparities have appeared among each of these communities. The
richer sections of these communities have gravitated towards the BJP, and the masses,
due to the lack of a coherent ideology, have followed the powerful sections of their
community.
Anti-Muslim feeling prevails especially among Billavas and Mogaveeras. In
the case of Mogaveeras, as fishermen, they are in economic conflict with Beary
Muslims who are traders in fish. As far as the Billavas are concerned, they bear the
brunt of the unemployment problems. The Sangh Parivar is mobilizing unemployed
youth in Billava and Mogaveera communities. Neither Billavas or Mogaveeras have
strong community organisations to address their issues, and this vacuum has been
filled by the Hindutva organizations like Bajrang Dal and Sri Rama Sene. Billavas,
who form a majority of Sri Rama Sene cadres, have moved from being followers of
Sri Narayan Guru to the Hindutva brigade. Mogaveeras have found a niche in the
Bajrang Dal.
There is thus an intense sense of competition among backward communities
such as the Mogaveera, Billava and large sections of Muslims, who are also very
poor. Often these sections compete for the same sector of low-end jobs.

Globalization, which has come to Mangalore in a big way, has only intensified this
process of competition for limited resources. In the last four years, malls, hi-tech
hospitals and other such institutions have mushroomed. There is an obscene level
of wealth. This produces tremendous alienation as many sections of the people have
no access to these places; equally, there is enormous resentment of the privileges
that an English education brings by way of opportunities, economic and social.
The current communal tensions in Dakshina district have their roots in the
region’s rapid development since the 1970’s. The advent of the land reforms created
new spaces for different castes and communities to operate in and compete with
each other. Dominant social groups like Konkani Brahmins, Bunts and Christians
found opportunities in new ventures like banking, education, or new industries
like tiles, cashew nuts and fishing; many Bunts moved away to places like Mumbai
to establish ‘Udipi’ hotels. Backward castes like Mogaveeras and Billavas, who were
freed from dependent tenancy, moved into small businesses like fishing, where they
had to contend with the Bearys, an ethnic Muslim community which has a sizable
presence in Dakshina Kannada, forming 15% of the total population, with a heavy
concentration in districts like Mangalore, Bantwal, Belthangady, Surathkal, areas
which have today become communally sensitive. The Gulf boom of the 1970’s and
the new industrialization enabled the Beary community to enter the newer economy
and markets through petty businesses (textiles and grocery), middle-level businesses
(hotel and spices economy), and even capital-intensive businesses. All this produced
disgruntlement among upwardly mobile elements of the backward communities
and led to a discourse of marginalization, creating the conditions for communal
mobilization and communal identity.
The sense of deprivation and competition among these groups, which is really
a sense of frustration with the existing pattern of inequitable development, is being
systematically transformed into hatred through the cadre-based politics of the Sangh.
In every village in Dakshina Kannada. whenever religious or cultural functions are
organized (e.g. Bhuta worship), they have become completely saffronized. The
structure of the Sangh Parivar combined with systematic work has ensured that its
institutions have now infiltrated into every village and participate in almost all
activities. Thus, the culture of this area has steadily become very fundamentalist
with the last fifteen years seeing the emergence of a strong anti-minority feeling.
This has preceded the coming of BJP to power and attests to the cadre-based work
of the Sangh.
1.3 Consolidation of Hindutva Forces in Karnataka
The formation of the first coalition government with the BJP as a junior partner in
February 2006 and the installment of the first BJP Government in the South in May

2008 marked an important bench mark in the politics of the Hindu Right in
Karnataka. Once the BJP government was in power, the question was whether it
would focus on its electoral mantra of ‘development’ or make Karnataka an
experimental field for the politics of the Sangh Parivar. Close to completing a year
in office the BJP government has taken numerous actions which establish its anti-
secular agenda. (See Annexure I) Within months of the swearing in of the Yeddyurappa
Government, there were orchestrated attacks on churches by Bajrang Dal activists
and the Karnataka Government was deeply complicitous in not taking any stern
action against the attackers. The question whether the BJP government would rein
in the extremist elements of the Sangh and focus on ‘development’ was answered in
the negative. The Chief Minister, Yeddyurappa and the Home Minister, V.S.
Acharya made a series of statements which in effect sought to minimize the extent
of the attacks and sought to deflect attention by repeatedly referring to the ‘spontaneous
anger’ of the people due to conversions which according to them were responsible
for the attacks. (See Annexure II) The other action of the BJP, both as a junior
member of the coalition headed by Kumaraswamy as well as by the present
administration, was to withdraw cases against many Sangh Parivar activists that had
been filed on the specific ground of inciting hatred against communities on grounds
of religion (Section. 153-A of the Indian Penal Code). One beneficiary of this
government action was a man named Pramod Muthalik of the Sri Ram Sene.
Pramod Muthalik was originally with the Bajrang Dal, but was ousted from it
for reasons that are somewhat obscure. He worked with the Shiv Sena for a while
before forming his own outfit, Sri Rama Sene. Despite the Sangh Parivar’s disclaimer
to the contrary, Sri Rama Sene has very close connections with the Sangh Parivar,
ideologically and organizationally. Prasad Attavar, convener of Sri Rama Sene, has
admitted that the pub attack was carried out jointly by the cadres of Sri Rama Sene
and Bajrang Dal who are working towards a common goal. The leaders of these
organizations are different, but the cadres staging such attacks see themselves as
part of the same programme.
The Sene is part of a long-standing Hindutva project of restructuring and
redefining the ideal Hindu woman, and, in the current context, of confronting what
the Sangh Parivar calls “the love jehad”, i.e., a perceived Muslim strategy to defile
the Indian woman.
The rise of Sri Rama Sene and other outfits, such as Hindu Jagran Vedike,
Hindu Jannajagriti Samithi, Sanathan Sanstha, and so on, points to the emergence
of a radical project of the Sangh Parivar to move towards the stage of an armed
offensive to realize its fascist objectives. Most of these organizations have cadres
(mostly men) drawn from lower castes or Other Backward Castes (OBC), who are

disenchanted with the rigidly Brahminical structure of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh (RSS). They are quite anti-brahminical, and anti-caste; in fact, many of their
cadres encourage inter-caste marriages. Yet they have been saffronized through
activities such as bhajana mandalis, brahma kalasa, jeevodhara and so on. Equally,
the Ram Sene often joins leftist struggles for economic causes (e.g. struggles against
water privatization, Special Economic Zone (SEZ), workers’ retrenchment and so
on), but actively recruits Dalits for Hindutva.
All this indicates that the Ambedkarite ideology has not percolated to the
Dalit masses. As Lolaksha, a Dalit leader of Ahinda, remarked, many Dalits have
been recruited as “the foot soldiers” of the Sangh Parivar which is using Muslims
and Christian as bogeys to frighten Dalits. According to Lolaksha, this also indicates
the failure of secular liberal politics in Karnataka. Progressive organizations have
been unable to draw many Dalits into their struggles.
1.4 Methodology
This fact-finding team was put together to try and understand how cultural policing
is being carried out, its gravity and extent, and the impact of this form of cultural
policing on the polity and society of Dakshina Kannada. We will also explore what
solutions activists have been advocating for this form of policing of the acts of
everyday living.
The methodology followed by the team was to interact with as wide a cross
section of citizens in Mangalore as possible. We visited Mangalore from 19 February
to 21 February 2009.
The members of the Fact-Finding Team were:
1. Ramdas Rao, People’s Union For Civil Liberties, Karnataka ( PUCL-K)
2. Shakun Mohini, Vimochana
3. B.N. Usha, Hengasara Hakkina Sangha
4. Arvind Narrain, Alternative Law Forum
We conducted and documented interviews with various key groups. We spoke to
members of the Hindutva groups, in particular members of the Sri Ram Sene
Madhu Urvastore and other members of the Sene, RSS sanchalaks Gopal Krishna
and Nagaraj at the Sangh Niketan, Mangalore. We spoke to activists from a diverse
social spectrum including activists of the Democratic Youth Federation India (DYFI),
Munir Kattipallya and Shekar L, Lolaksha of Ahinda, P.B. D’sa and Suresh Bhat of
the Peoples Union Of Civil Liberties (Mangalore Unit), academics Rita Noronha
of Roshini Nilayam, Pattabi Somayaji of Mangalore University, educationalists

Fr. Swebert D. Souza, Principal of St Aloysius College, Swaroopa Shetty Principal
of Matha Educational Trust Pre University College, journalists Sudipto Mondal of
The Hindu and Umar. H of the Tulunadu Vaibhava, and students of two colleges in
Mangalore, University College and Aloysius College. We also spoke to the then
Superintendent of Police, Dakshina Kannada district, Satish Kumar.
We were also greatly aided by the work of Alwyn Prakash D’Souza, SJ from
the Indian Social Institute who had put together a compilation of incidents of
cultural policing in Dakshina Kannada from September 2008 up to mid February
2009 in the local Kannada Press.
This report would not have been possible without the invaluable discussions
and interviews with social activists and journalists whose viewpoints have shaped
our perspective in this report.
Some of the gaps in this fact-finding investigation were an inability to speak to
representatives of the Bajrang Dal. Inspite of our calling and sending him a text
message, Sharan Pumpwell, President of the city unit Mangalore of the Bajrang Dal
did not respond. Gopal Hosur, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), was not in his
office and was unable to meet us.
The main gap turned out to be the fact that the victims of cultural policing
who had gone underground and proved very difficult to contact. The pub attack was
symptomatic of this problem as none of the victims were willing to come forward
and give testimony. Though we called the CPM MLA from Kerala, C. H. Kunhabbu
whose daughter Shruti was assaulted in a bus he too did not return the call or
respond to the text message. This inability to speak directly to the victims points to
the atmosphere of intimidation that continues to prevail in Dakshina Kannada.

2.1 The Amnesia Pub Incident (24 January, 2009)
According to one of the victims of the attack, around 4 pm, a
group of over 40 people, wearing saffron headbands and scarves,
came in through the main gate and approached the bouncer of
the pub. She said that before barging into the pub, the mob went
into a huddle and prayed silently. Then they began raising slogans
‘Bharat Mata ki Jai,’ ‘Jai Sri Ram,’ ‘Bajrang Dal ki Jai’ and ‘Sri
Ram Sene ki Jai.’
“They asked to be let in so that they could get everybody
out of the joint,” she said. Even as the bouncers negotiated with
them at the entrance, the pub’s staff quickly closed the doors,
and locked the bouncers outside. Hearing the noise, a curious
kitchen staffer opened the rear door to see what was happening.
The mob seized this opportunity and barged in through the
kitchen. “Once inside, they went straight for the women guests.
They rounded them up at the centre of the dance floor and then
started beating them mercilessly,” she said. After the initial
beating, some of the assailants began to single out some of them
and molested them. “We have been molested and humiliated in
the name of God and country by people who obviously have no
regard for either of the two,” one of them told The Hindu.
“One of them stripped a girl and groped her. She was also
badly beaten up. We are still trying to trace her,” she said.
According to her, several girls were similarly targeted. “They
were laughing when they were doing all this. It was just fun for
them,” she said. The attackers then targeted the men who dared
come to the rescue of the girls. The narrator herself was slapped
a few times. (The Hindu, 27.01.09)
Another victim spoke to the Times Now Channel covering
her face. Recounting the trauma that no amount of consolation
can erase, she claimed that the Sri Ram Sena activists hurled
abuses at them and called them “prostitutes”. “We were attacked,
beaten horribly, our hair pulled, we were kicked, put on the
floor. A few of our pants were pulled down, skirts pulled down.
We were molested more than attacked. Being molested in front
of the camera and being called prostitutes is something no girl
wants to go through.” “We are scarred for life.....We were thrown
Vigilante Attacks in Dakshina
Kannada
8
chapterII
“We have been
molested and
humiliated in the
name of God and
country by people
who obviously have
no regard for either
of the two,”

about, hit. What you did not see was what we saw that day—the footage of us being
molested,” recalled a horrified victim. They said that, “What happened on Saturday
was traumatizing, but we need to feel safe again.” ( http://timesnow.tv/
NewsDtls.aspx?NewsID=27720)
One of the facts to note about the attack was it was well orchestrated with the
media receiving advance notice of the attack. In fact the attack began only after the
TV cameras were well stationed to cover the attack in all its details. It should also be
noted that Amnesia Pub is located in a posh, crowded and up market locality. This
attack took place around 4 pm. and was observed by numerous passersby. Among
the large number of people who watched this brazen day light attack, there was only
one person, Pavan Kumar Shetty, who jumped to the defence of the girls who were
being assaulted.
Recalling the events, Pawan Kumar explains: “I could not bear to stand and
watch. I just ran into the attacking mob to get their attention away from the girls.”
Video clippings show the entire mob turning its fury on Pawan Kumar, allowing the
women to escape. According to him, there were over a hundred bystanders, “but
not one of them did anything to prevent the attack.” Had the people united against
the attackers, they could have easily chased them away. Instead, “Everyone was
falling over one another to get a glimpse of the action. It was like a cricket match.”
The feeling that ‘it was like a cricket match’ and was part of the ordinary
course of things was reflected in the interviews conducted by the Fact Finding
Team. The RSS Sanchalaks we met were clear that the pub incident was only one in
a series of incidents and did not deserve that kind of publicity. Similarly, journalists
in Dakshina Kannada were genuinely surprised when the Mangalore pub attack
became national news since the incident appeared to them as entirely in the normal
course of things. One key reason for the Mangalore Pub incident becoming a
national scandal was that the footage was captured on TV and aired on all major
national networks. Otherwise, it might well have been condemned to obscurity as
were numerous other incidents of cultural policing which have taken place in
Dakshina Kannada.
The national level attention compelled some action from the government. A
First Information Report (FIR) was registered in the matter on 24.01.09 under
Sections 143 (being a member of an unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 323 (voluntarily
causing hurt), 448 (house trespass), 504 (insult intended to provoke breach of the
peace), 354 (outraging modesty of a woman), 506 (criminal intimidation) read with
149 (if offence is committed by a member of unlawful assembly, all others members
of assembly shall be guilty of offence). It should be noted that all the sections booked
against what the FIR describes as ’10-12 unknown persons’ are bailable except
Section 506 which is non bailable because of a Karnataka amendment.

The FIR itself was lodged by the owner of Amnesia Bar, Dr Rajshekar and it
reads as follows,: ‘I am a doctor and I also run Amnesia Bar and Restaurant which
is located on Mangalore Road, back side of Bharat building, in the Woodside hotel
building. The bar license is in the name of Kaignakanta Shetty. I am running the bar
and restaurant on a lease. On 24.01.09 evening four o’clock, I and my brother
Santosh were inside the bar when 10-12 unknown people forcibly entered the bar
and the customers which included both boys and girls were hit with their hands and
made to go outside. The girls were dragged by their hands and molested and attacked.
When I asked all those who were attacking why they were creating this trouble, one
of the accused called me a bastard and a son of a prostitute and said if you make
women sit in a bar and give them beer we will not let them go. We will not let you
live either. By so saying he put me in fear of my life Because of the attack the
customers ran away from the bar. I do not know who they are. Ten to twelve of the
accused were youth aged 20-25. If I see them again I will recognize them. This
unlawful assembly entered the bar and attacked the customers with their hands.
They also molested the women and beat them as well. I request that you take proper
legal action.’
The FIR was registered on the same day as the incident itself and the Mangalore
police initially arrested ten people. Subsequently, another sixteen people were
arrested. All the accused including Prasad Attavar, the Sri Ram Sene Vice President,
were released on bail on 31.01.09.
Pramod Muthalik, who was not even an accused in the Mangalore Pub attack,
was arrested on 27.01.09 in connection with an earlier First Information Report(FIR)
filed by the Davangere police on grounds of promoting enmity between groups on
grounds of religion (Sec 153-A of the IPC). He was subsequently also arrested in
connection with another case of making inflammatory speeches in Madikeri. He got
bail in both cases. In the case filed in Madikeri, he had to furnish a personal bond of
Rs 1 lakh, and BJP member M K Narayana Rao agreed to stand surety for him.
Responses to the Amnesia Attack
Union Minister For Women and Child Devleopment ( Renuka Chowdhary)
The first and the strongest response after the pub attack came from Renuka
Chowdhary, Union Minister for Women and Child Development, who said that the
Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa is answerable for the attack on women
in a pub in Mangalore by a self-styled pro-Hindutva group. Chowdhary said it was
an effort by the radical Hindu group to “Talibanise India” and it was unacceptable.
Renuka Chowdhary’s high profile intervention set the tone for much of the
media coverage as well as civil society response. The word ‘Talibanize’ was picked

up and used to describe what was going on in Mangalore by both media as well as
civil society.
Following her intervention, the National Commission for Women (NCW)
sent a team to Mangalore to conduct a fact finding investigation. One of the team
members Nirmala Venkatesh came out with a statement to the media in which she
in effect blamed the pub for having lax security and recommended cancellation of
the license while saying that the twenty seven accused had not intended to attack
women and had apologized for the same. The Chairperson of the NCW, Girija
Vyas promptly disassociated herself from Nirmala Venkatesh’s statement. (This proved
to be prescient as upon being sacked from the National Commision for Women,
Nirmala Venkatesh promptly joined the BJP thereby casting further doubt on the
motivated nature of her Report) Following these developments, Renuka Chowdhary
sent another fact finding mission, a two member team, headed by Kiran Chaddha,
Joint Secretary, Women and Child Development.
This team in its investigation found that Amnesia Pub, where members of Sri
Ram Sene thrashed the girls on allegations of “obscenity” and “violating traditional
Indian culture by consuming alcohol”, was not serving liquor at the time of incident.
“It was 4 o’ clock in the evening and the girls have simply gone there to celebrate the
birthday of one of their friends. No drinks were being served there as it was a
normal restaurant.” Joint Secretary Kiran Chadha said the attack was “pre-meditated”
by the right-wing Sri Ram Sene, which, she said, quoting complaints of the victims,
was a kind of “anti-social” group there. Chadha said she met all the girls who were
“roughed up” by the hardliners at the Amnesia Pub last month and found them in a
“shattered” state of mind. “They told me that they want their life back in Mangalore.
They said they are not allowed to wear what they are comfortable in. They are not
allowed to interact with the people.” Chadha announced that the chargesheet in the
attack case has already been prepared by the local police and will be filed soon. Her
team has also given a clean chit to the pub owners on security issues saying there
were adequate arrangements of security.
Renuka Chowdhary in various public utterances since then has said that “The
state government is not in control of the law and order situation. Talibanisation is
happening. There is a clean communal divide where a Hindu girl is prevented from
talking to a Muslim boy. It is a very dangerous trend,” She feels that “there is a
breakdown of law and order in Karnataka and I think we should look at it as a
national security problem,” She comments: “It is a much deeper rot. Today it is a
pub, tomorrow if you are sitting in the staircase in front of your house, they will
come and slap you. It is fascism, there is an attempt to spread an ideology of hatred
in Karnataka, an attempt to bring a communal divide. It is fascism supported by a

state government that we need to be concerned about.” Following these statements
the Mayor of Mangalore, Ganesh Hosebettu, a BJP member, filed a First Information
Report (FIR) against the Women and Child Development Minister Renuka
Chowdhary for allegedly defaming Mangalore’s reputation by referring to the
Talibanization of Mangalore.
Response of the Sri Ram Sene
Speaking about the attacks, Sri Ram Sene chief Muthalik made a series of
contradictory statements all of which sought to minimize, explain and even justify
the attack::
— “The incident is not so big for it to become a national issue. This is just a plan to
discredit the BJP government.”
— “It is not in our culture to take drugs and dance naked.”
— ”The way [Sri Ram Sene acted] has been wrong. I apologize for this. The way
should not be like that. But it is our right to save our mothers and daughters,”
— “Pub-culture is not our culture...Media should highlight and show the aim behind
our act to the society.”
When we met the members of the Sri Ram Sene, their responses followed the
pattern set by Muthalik. ‘We admit it was wrong to attack the girls in the pub, but
they verbally assaulted us, using extremely obscene language. In fact one of them
threw beer on one of us. That made our friend very angry. The media went on
showing the pictures of the girls being attacked. We’re willing to apologize to the
girls, but they’re not ready to come forward. In fact, women in our families have
themselves criticized us for attacking women in the pub, though they agree that the
pub action was necessary. We attacked the women only because they went to pubs.’
Response of the Karnataka Government
The BJP government came in for strong criticism for its perceived slow and indifferent
response. Responding to the criticism, the Yeddyurappa administration finally moved
to officially disassociate itself from the actions of the Sri Ram Sene. The Chief
Minister was widely quoted as saying that, “Sri Ram Sene has nothing to do with
(Sangh) Parivar, I am telling you honestly”. However the Chief Minister diluted his
own position of distance from the Sri Ram Sene by coming out with a statement
that he too was against “pub culture”, though he disapproved of anyone taking law
into their own hands. By endorsing their stand he in effect said that he subscribed
to their objectives though he might have disagreements about their strategy. In
keeping with this broad sympathy for the objectives of the Sri Ram Sene, he explicitly
ruled out any further action against Sri Rama Sene. To questions of whether a ban

should be contemplated or whether the Goondas Act should be invoked, the
Government in spite of a series of statements of possible intent, decided against
such measures.
The preceding action of the Karnataka Government just before the pub incident
was the withdrawal of criminal cases against Pramod Muthalik in cases in which he
was charged with promoting enmity on grounds of religion ( Section 153-A of the
IPC) and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings(Section 295-A of the
IPC). The specific cases in which Muthalik was a beneficiary of this governmental
action were in Chikmagalur Town P.S. Cr. No. 256/02, Chikmagalur Rural P.S.
Cr. No. 391/02, Chikmagalur Town P.S. Cr. No. 260/03.
2.2 The Intimidation of Independent Voices
In public, both the BJP and the RSS sought to distance themselves from the Sri
Ram Sene. Even while claiming that they were against ‘pub culture,’ they condemned
the methods employed by the Sri Ram Sene. However, as the following interviews
reveal, the actions of other Sangh affiliates in the immediate aftermath of the pub
attack tell another story.
Interview with Pattabhi Somayaji of University College, Mangalore
Pattabhi Somayaji, who teaches English at University College in Mangalore, has
been actively involved in various social causes in Karnataka. He has spoken and
written on communal harmony issues as well as well as on various issues affecting
deprived sections of the community. His vocal opposition to the politics of communal
mobilization under Hindutva has earned him the enmity of the Sangh Parivar.
He observes:
“In fact, two to three years ago Vijay Karnataka carried an article in which
academics with well known left and liberal credentials such as Rajendra Chenni,
Nagari Babiah andV.S. Sridhara as well as myself were branded Naxals. Following
this article the college was forced to be closed for a week due to a bandh called by
some of the students. There were posters which described me as a ‘bloodthirsty
man’. Well-known littérateur U. R. Ananthmurthy wrote an article which rebutted
the main points saying that I was his student and that the accusations were
nothing but slander which was carried by Vijay Karnataka. There was thus this
opposition to me even before the recent incidents.
I have always spoken and written from various platforms and there never
was a problem. It was only after the pub attack that it became an issue that I
spoke from the college campus. On 28.01.09, there was a live panel discussion on
NDTV and Vasanthi from NDTV told me to meet her in her office and I told

her that I could not as I had classes and asked her to come to the college instead.
In this discussion in which many people participated in which I expressed my
opinion condemning the attack, there was also a sound byte from a student who
said that the organization which carried out the pub attacks should not be called
Ram Sene but Ravana Sene.
Based on this one sound byte, the ABVP gave a bandh call in Mangalore
University on 29.01.09. It was widely reported that I had called Ram Sene
Ravana Sene. ABVP students barged into classes to enforce their bandh. The
students were coerced into leaving the classes. To give you one example, in one
class the teacher said that let’s close the class and the girls in the class said that you
can go but we will not go. So the class was continued.
In the interview with Vasanthi Hariprakash from NDTV, some of the
boys said that they were against the pub attack. One girl said that she did not
subscribe to pub culture but people have the right to go to pubs if they so choose.
She also said that she was scared. After this she was mocked and silenced.
During the college bandh, there was a demand by a group of seventy to
eighty people that I should be dismissed. They gave an ultimatum to the principal
inspite of which no action was taken against me. It was then that the Minister in
charge of Dakshina Kannada district, Krishna J Palemar at the head of a gang of
students went to the principal’s office and ordered him to give me a notice. He
gave him ten days to solve the matter. For five days after that, there were college
day activities and hence no classes.
On 4.02.09 I got a notice from the Principal in which I was asked to
provide an explanation to the charge that I had spoken derogatorily about the
Hindu religion on TV on 28.01.09, that without giving any complaint to the
principal, I had spoken to the press saying that some students were threatening my
life, and that using the excuse of freedom of speech and expression, I had given
provocative speeches and addressed gatherings. All of these, according to the charge,
disturbed the peaceful atmosphere of the college.
It was then that students who felt the action against me was unfair, headed
by Manoj from the Student Federation of India (SFI), started a signature campaign.
They had collected over 300 signatures and on 12.02.09 just as Manoj and his
friends were going to submit the petition to the principal in the afternoon at 12.30-
1.30 pm, over eighty students who were part of the ABVP, gathered outside the
principal’s chamber, mobbed Manoj and snatched the petition away. They also
loudly shouted and abused me. It was really violent and scary and the principal was
not there. There was a complaint to the police station after which the police came.

At around 4 pm. one of the students involved in the signature campaign,
was alone in the library when this group decided to teach him a lesson and came
to the library. Even as the student was facing a threat, the librarian asked them
to leave the library as there was too much of noise. She called the principal who
along with two other Sangh affiliated teachers came to the library and expressed
their helplessness to the student and others to do anything. The student then
called the police who came there and took away the students affiliated with the
Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) who were threatening the student
to the police station. The students were ostensibly ‘warned’ but what went on
according to the students who complained was just friendly chatter.” Though
both incidents disclosed the commission of offences, the police choose to only file
a Non Cognizable Report (NCR) after which the case is officially closed.”
Interview with Students, Munir and Siraj (names changed) University College,
Mangalore on 19.02.2009
“The MLA Kishore Palemar visited the college principal after the alleged statements
by Prof. Pattabhi on the pub attacks. We heard that he threatened the Principal
with an ultimatum that action be taken against Professor Pattabhi immediately
on the complaint given by ABVP and Sri Rama Sene unions. After his visit, the
attacks against us began to happen on a daily basis and even the Principal ignores
them.
I along with some friends felt that we should support the campaign in
favour of Professor Pattabhi Somayaji, who was targeted by ABVP for condemning
the pub attack in the media. I along with Siraj, another Muslim student, began
to collect signatures in the signature campaign from all students. Manoj, Secretary
of Student Federation of India (SFI), started the campaign and I assisted in
getting signatures. Over three hundred students had signed the protest letter. On
the 4th
day, I and Siraj were accosted by the Secretary of ABVP, who abused me
saying only Muslim students have signed, even though many students had signed.
He started threatening us, saying we will see you outside. They threatened me
and Siraj outside the Principal’s office and I complained to the principal, but he
took no action. I registered a complaint with the Pandeswar Police Station. Next
day, Siraj and I were in the library, when a gang of ABVP boys rushed in and
began to beat Siraj. They came at me, but the librarian started yelling that both
of us should go outside. We refused to go saying that the ABVP gang would attack
us. I called the police on my mobile saying we were being attacked inside the
college. When police arrived, the Principal also came but said “I can do nothing
– I have no power to take action – only political power prevails.”

The attackers included students from the ABVP union. We were spared
that day only because the police arrived. However the police took both me and
Siraj to the police station along with the four attackers from ABVP. There, we
were told that the ABVP boys were warned, but the police seemed very friendly
with the ABVP boys and we do not know whether they truly warned them. They
took an undertaking from them that they would not resort to attacks against us.
“We have joined the SFI since last month, as we do not feel safe. ABVP has
also issued a directive to the Principal, that girls coming to college should not be
allowed to wear burkhas. They have threatened that if the girls wearing burkhas
to college are not stopped, then all their members will start to wear“kesari” to
college. The regular harassment is driving many Muslim students to drop out of
college. The aim seems to be to prevent poor Muslim students from studying in
college. Many of us cannot afford to go to a private college. I know of three
Muslim students in B.Com Ist and IInd years who have left the college due to
harassment. There must be more in other disciplines.
Muslim youth are largely unaware of how to complain and who to complain
to. Some of the insults regularly hurled at us by the ABVP student leader and his
gang are – “They have brought SFI in to the College. Let them come like dogs to
college and go back like dogs without wagging their tails.”
2.3 The Valentine Day’s Offensive
The impunity with which the Sri Ram Sene was able to carry out the attack and the
weak state response combined with the national spotlight being on the Sri Ram
Sene seems to have emboldened the Sene Chief to initiate another offensive which
was aimed at preventing the celebration of Valentine’s Day on February 14, 2009.
Addressing the Hindu Rashtra Sene (parent organization of Sri Ram Sene)
Pramod Muthalik said: “The Sene plans to write letters to colleges, hotels and
greeting card shops not to promote Valentine’s Day on their premises. Colleges
should enforce strict action against students celebrating Valentine’s Day.’’ In a press
conference, he announced: “Couples seen displaying affection in public would be
whisked to a temple and married off; if a boy and girl seen together are found to be
siblings, they would be made to exchange a rakhi, Sene activists will be accompanied
by priests and, if any couple is seen in public, they would take them to the nearest
temple and solemnize the wedding. We will also register the marriage in the nearest
office of the marriage registrar,”
When Pramod Muthalik threatened to disrupt the Valentine’s day celebrations,
he widened the ambit of the threat that he posed. What might previously have been

seen as an incident (horrific as it was) that was basically confined to Mangalore now
became a state-wide threat. A message of fear was sought to be sent out across
Karnataka that the Sri Ram Sene would function as a moral and cultural custodian
of values, and would see to it that it would enforce its brand of Indian culture across
Karnataka.
2.4 Continuing Attacks with Renewed Impunity
While, on the one hand, the Sangh Parivar in its public statements distanced
itself from the Sri Ram Sene, on the other hand its affiliates saw no problem in
brazenly intimidating and silencing all voices of opposition to the actions of the
Sene. The State Government’s apathetic attitude to taking action against those
responsible for the pub attacks has sent out a clear message that the state, despite
its protestations to the contrary, will not come down firmly on those who take the
law into their own hands.
In the time period since the Mangalore pub attacks up to 25 February, 2009
there have been seven further incidents of cultural policing reported in the English
press and a further seven incidents which have not been reported in the English
press but have been covered by the local editions of the Kannada press.
To even see the pub attack as the starting point of vigilantism would be incorrect
as the pub attack itself was preceded by a series of incidents of cultural policing. A
survey of the English press from 2.09.08 to 25.02.09 shows that there were twenty
two incidents of cultural policing reported from the Dakshina Kannada region.(See
Annexure III) A survey of the local Kannada Press from 1.08.08 to 15.02.09 reveals
that there were forty five incidents in which self-styled vigilante groups took the
law into their own hands.(See Annexure IV) The pub attack is really a part of a
larger series of assaults all of which are about policing the boundaries of appropriate
behaviour for both men and women undertaken by self-styled vigilante groups.
To give a sampling of the kinds of incidents of cultural policing even before
the pub incident:
1. Sri Ram Sene activists attacked a dance class at Kundapur alleging that minor
girls, wearing skimpy clothes, were performing vulgar dances. They also alleged that
these dance class instructors took girl students out with boys for late night
performances, traveling to various places. (Jaya Kirana, 24.1.09)
2. A Hindu boy from Udupi area took two of his Christian friends to Panambur
beach in his Zen car supposedly ‘to have fun’. After getting this information,
Bajrang Dal activists stopped the car at the beach and found that there were
Muslim boys with Hindu girls. They informed Kavur police who rushed to the
spot and made inquires. The students said that they had come to Mangalore for

their studies and had stopped the car at the beach as the car had some problems.
However the police said that there were no valid reasons for them to be there, and
the girls were warned and sent back to their parents. (22.01.09, Jaya Kirana)
3. Sri Ram Sene activists attacked St Ligoria Higher Primary School for distributing
Bibles to the students. There are both Hindu and Christian students in the school,
and one of the teachers had distributed copies of the New Testament to students
and asked them to read it saying that he would later ask them questions about it.
Getting to know of this, Sri Ram Sene raided the school, warning them not to
repeat such things. They planned to distribute Bhagavad Gita to the students.
(Jaya Kirana, 3.1.09 )
4. Bajrang Dal activists claim they, ‘saved’ a girl from being kidnapped and cheated.
They allege that Ubez, a sales man working in a Mother India Masala factory at
Honnavara, was in love with Sandhya and that she was not interested in him and
had rejected his proposal. They allege that he managed to lure her to Mangalore.
Bajrang Dal activists say that they spotted them in a KSRTC bus and took away
the girl and handed over the boy to police custody. (Jaya Kirana, 23.12.08)
5. Bajrang Dal activists alleged that two girls who ran away from home were being
taken to Kolar by a boy from Ujre for immoral activities. They say that when they
spoke to the girls who were waiting for this boy at Dharmastala, the girls supposedly
said that the boy was their relative. Later the Bajrang Dal activists followed the
boy to Ujre who fled realizing he was being watched. They then took the girls who
were waiting for the boy near Ujre bus stand to Belthangadi police station. (Jaya
Kirana, 7.12.08)
6. Ameen of Kokkada and a Hindu girl from Moodbidri were found near Dharmastala
by Bajrang Dal activists. They allege that they were in love and after coming to
know of this the activists questioned them. They were later taken to Belthangadi
police station for inquiry. (Jaya Kirana, 23.11.08)
7. Sri Ram Sene attacked Miss Femina contest at Bharat Mall in Mangalore. A
selection for participants from Mangalore for the contest was being held. A Sene
activist said that, some people after seeing girls doing cat walks in ‘skimpy’ dresses,
informed them. The police came to the spot and Sri Ram Sene left the place only
after all the photos of the participants taken in the camera of the organizers were
deleted. (Jaya Kirana, 26.11.08 )
8. A group of boys (two Hindu and one Muslim) studying in Sulya college took
Radhika on their bikes to Puttur where a Bajrang Dal activist stopped them and
questioned them. The boys fled leaving Radhika behind. The activist took Radhika

to the police station and she was sent back after being warned. (Jaya Kirana,
7.11.08)
9. Ashraf and a Hindu girl visited the room of Santosh who runs an organization
called Star Friends. A Bajrang Dal activist alleged that they were having‘fun’ and
when people found out the police were informed. They were taken to the police
station where they were handed over to their parents after counseling them. The
office of Star Friends has been locked up. (Jaya Kirana, 11.11.08)
10. Two Muslim boys and Hindu girls were found at a hotel near Jyothi cinema
drinking beer. It is reported that someone, who overheard one of the girls saying
on her mobile phone that she was at a friend’s place, informed Bajrang Dal. The
police came to the spot and took the boys and girls to the police station. (Jaya
Kirana, 7.11.08)
11. Three Hindu girl students were drinking juice with Zaheer Abbas, when a group
of Bajrang Dal activists attacked them and beat up the boy. They then handed him
to police custody. Police warned them and sent them back. One of the girls was
warned by Bajrang Dal for her immoral behaviour. (Jaya Kirana 6.10.08)
12. Three boys and two girls (all Hindus), who were going to their friend’s house for
Ramzan lunch at Machi village, were stopped by Bajrang Dal activists who got this
information from some localite. (Jaya Kirana, 2.10.08 )
13. Sudhakar, a student of Mangalore university, bought a Muslim girl Raila, who
was his neighbor for entrance exams at the university. He was severely beaten up
by Muslim youth. He was stopped at the bus stand, dragged out of the bus and
beaten. (Jaya Kirana, 13.09.08)
14. Bajrang Dal activists attacks two Hindu boys and a Muslim boy (son of an ex
police officer) together, with the daughter of a bank officer at a West Side Inn
room. A Bajrang Dal activist alleged that they were found ‘having fun’. The police
also came to the spot and beat the boys up and took them into custody. (Jaya
Kirana, 2.09.08)
15. A Hindu girl was attacked by a Bajrang Dal activist on suspicion of carrying out
immoral activities with a Muslim family. She was seen regularly visiting the Muslim
house in that village. She has been returned to her parents. (Jaya Kirana, 2.09.08)
16. Bashir of Kasaba village was seen with Nandita of Nalli Gudde at a hill next to
pre university college at Vithala. A local group called Vithala Friends Group said
that they questioned Bashir about this. The group said that they then requested
the owner of PBA Earth Movers, where Nandita worked, to dismiss her from her
work. Later they handed over Bashir and Nandita to the police, who took a

written apology and sent them back. The group says that there were immoral
activities happening at the hill at Vithala and the local people have expressed their
disgust about it.(Jaya Kirana, 2.09.08)
17. Social Action Centre (SAC) a Christian organization joined hands to attack a
Muslim boy seen with a Christian girl. They both were beaten and taken to the
police. It is said that SAC began when a Christian housewife was taken away by
a Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD) member in order to convert her to Islam.
Thus SAC decided to be moral police for their community and stop conversions.
(Jaya Kirana, 1.09.08)
The fact that there were at least ten reported incidents of cultural policing
even after the attack on women in Amnesia highlights the continuing impunity
which vigilante groups enjoy.
1. Speaking to The Hindu, Hameed said that he had organized a small “get-together”
for friends. “Suddenly, five men armed with clubs and knifes barged into the
house and attacked us,the leader of the gang was repeatedly telling his followers to
kill us,” he said. Despite the convener of Sri Ram Sene, Madhu Urwastore, claiming
responsibility for this incident where a house was raided and its occupants grievously
injured, the police have not made any arrests. (The Hindu , 27.01.09)
2. Hindu Jagaran Vedike and Bajrang Dal have instigated students to protest Muslim
girls wearing burkha to the college, thus creating communal tension in the college.
In one of the incidents where a Muslim boy supposedly proposed to a Hindu girl,
he was attacked by these groups. The college principal called for a parents’ meeting
to resolve the tension. That meeting was also attended by Taluk members and gram
panchayat president Rafiq. The two groups mentioned above tried to enter the
meeting but they were asked to stay out. After the meeting, Rafiq and Muslim
students were attacked by Hindutva activists who were shouting slogans outside.
(Vartha Bharathi, 30.1.09)
3. UBMS primary higher school planned to celebrate their annual day by staging a
Yakshagana performance on Jesus which was directed by a Hindu and enacted by
Hindu students. Though the parents of these children had no problem, some of
the management members of the school as well as some local politicians objected to
this and forced the school to cancel the annual day celebrations. (Jaya Kirana
30.01.09)
4. Albert D’Souza, a truck driver, told The Hindu that he had parked his jeep in
front of the bar and gone away for a little while. “When I returned I saw a few
people breaking the windscreen of my jeep and desecrating the religious stickers
pasted on it,” he said. When he questioned them, the vandals attacked him with

iron rods and other lethal weapons. D’Souza believes that he was attacked out of
pure malice. “They obviously attacked me because of my community,” he said.
(The Hindu , 4.02.09)
5. Shruthi, daughter of Manjeswaram CPM legislator C H Kunhabbu, was travelling
in a Kasargod-Mangalore bus around 4.30 pm when she met her friend’s brother
Shabeeb. As Shruthi and Shabeeb were sitting together in the bus, someone allegedly
informed the Hindu groups in Mangalore. When the bus reached Pumpwell near
the city, four youths boarded the bus. They stopped the bus about 200 metres
before the next stop (Kankanady), dragged Shruthi and Shabeeb out of the bus
and bundled them into an auto rickshaw which was reportedly waiting for them.
They took Shruthi and Shabeeb to a house somewhere near Padil and reportedly
beat them up. Around 6 pm, Shruthi was released. She took an auto rickshaw and
went to the house of her father’s friend in Bejai and informed Kunhabbu. Shabeeb
was released only at night, it is learnt. (Deccan Herald, 7.02.09)
6. A 15-year-old schoolgirl hanged herself to death at Mulky in Dakshina Kannada
after being publicly humiliated by a suspected Hindutva fringe group, according to
eyewitness accounts. Superintendent of Police N. Satish Kumar, however, denied
the involvement of any group in her death. According to Rafiq, a helper in a bus,
the victim and another girl boarded the bus at Kinnigoli village at 12 noon on
Tuesday. The girls, both students of the Aikala PU College, got off at Moodbidri
along with Abdul Salim, with whom one of the girls was friendly. As they were
walking towards Venoor, a group of suspected Hindutva youths allegedly accosted
them. The girls were berated for being friendly with someone from another religion
and all the three were beaten up. The bus, on its return journey, was stopped by
another group that dragged Rafiq out and thrashed him. He was taken to the place
where Salim and the girls were held.The captors then called Moodbidri SI Bharathi
G., who took the four to the police station. The parents of one of the girls were
summoned and Salim was allegedly forced to write a letter of apology. The girl and
her family were said to have been humiliated at the station by a mob. The next
morning, the girl committed suicide. After her death, Salim was arrested following
a complaint by her father of rape and abetting in the suicide of a minor. (The
Hindu, 12.02.09) (The matter has now been referred to a Corps of Detectives
(COD) inquiry)
7. A group of students from an engineering college were travelling from Mangalore to
Bangalore in a private bus to participate in an inter-collegiate competition. They
were stopped at A B Shetty Circle by a group of activists from a Hindutva
organization, were threatened, and asked to go back home. In spite of Pandeshwara
police and parents of those students coming to the spot to stop them, they said they

would attack the bus at any point if it leaves Mangalore with these students. The
students all went back to their homes. (Karavali Ale, 14.2.09)
8. Eight year old Zariq returning home from madrassa in the night was attacked by
a communal group for wearing the Muslim cap. The group came in a car and
attacked the boy on the street. The Ullal police refused to take the complaint and
finally Ullal MLA UT Khadar had to call the police to take the complaint. (Karavali
Ale, 15.02.09)
9. There was an attack on two teenage boys who are members of the Students
Islamic Organization (SIO) by a mob of thirty Hindutva activists for pasting
posters near the Vivekananda Engineering College in Puttur town. The victims
were aged 15 and 17 and one of them has suffered a partial loss of sight. A case was
registered under the Karnataka Open Place (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act
1981 against the two boys. The Circle Inspector Srikanth said that ‘the boys were
assaulted by hand and such offences are non-cognizable.’ and hence no case was
registered against the attackers. (The Hindu, 26.02.09)
10. At 6.45 pm on 25.02.09, Anishwita (23), Akeel Mohammmad (24) and Pramilla
(22) were conversing at the Juice Junction in Balmatta when five persons began
harassing them. Soon a large crowd gathered around them. Luckily a police patrol
on duty came by that area and prevented any further incident. An FIR has been
lodged in the Mangalore East Police Station. (The Hindu, 26.02.09)
The cultural policing as described above covers a wide gamut of behaviour,
right from going to dance classes to picnics to talking to boys and girls from different
religions to love between boys and girls from different religions.
The Fact Finding Team contacted a girl who was assaulted by Bajrang Dal
activists when she was out with three friends, one of whom happened to be Muslim.
Even though she has shifted to Bangalore, the incident had scarred her so deeply
that she refused to talk or even write to us about what happened. Similarly, a media
contact told us that when he tried to get in touch with one of the victims of these
attacks, she threatened to commit suicide if he called her again.
The difficulty itself points to the continuing atmosphere of fear and intimidation
prevailing in Dakshina Kannada district as well as the long term impact of being so
brutally assaulted. It must be noted that most of those who were assaulted were just
ordinary people going about their normal business of life when they were accosted
so violently. There is a wide-ranging intimidation and pervasive threat of violence
that made it difficult for our team to actually meet and talk to many of those who
were so seriously affected by these incidents of cultural policing. We did however
speak to two people, one of whom was in a bus carrying students on a picnic which

was stoned and another of whom was an activist who was involved in the legal
follow up of an attack on a sixteen year old Muslim school boy.
Interview with Swaroopa Shetty, Principal, Matha Educational Trust, PU College
(20.02.09)
“Our institution is one where there are both boys and girls from different
communities studying together. We had decided to go on a picnic in which around
seven staff, the Managing Director along with his family and students were together.
There were only four girls in this group of forty of us who were going to Wonderla.
Actually, the bus we were supposed to go by was cancelled and we booked another
bus.
We left the area around 10.20 pm and before we knew it the bus was
stopped and surrounded by around eight to ten people who used iron rods and
sticks and started breaking the glass of the bus. It was a very scary experience as
those people kept shouting bad words in Kannada at us. We don’t know why they
attacked us as we were not doing anything wrong. At the least they could have
come inside the bus and found out what was going on before attacking us like
that. There was glass flying all over and luckily nobody was injured in this attack.
There was no intimation from anyone so we don’t know who did it and
why they did it. We complained to the Mangalore rural police and the police later
on told us that they had arrested a few people in connection with this attack.
This attack has meant that as far as we are concerned we are not taking our
students on any more trips. We cannot take a risk with student lives. This attack
and the incidents which have been happening have also made Mangalore much
more unsafe. I don’t believe that the police will find out who was behind the
attacks and we just have take care of ourselves. In fact I don’t think it is safe any
more.”
Interview with Shekhar L., Activist with Democratic Youth Federation of India
DYFI (Phone interview on 24.02.09)
Assault of a Sixteen year Old Muslim Boy
“Shefantunde, a sixteen year old II PU student of SDM College, was returning
home by a KSRTC bus to his village (Navarooru Grama) in Belthangadi.
Suddenly, the bus was stopped and some 18-20 people got on, dragged him down
and beat him up. They tore his clothes and severely hit him with their hands.
One of the leaders of the attack was Shyamsunder, a taluk Sanchalak of the

Hindu Jagran Vedike, who assaulted the boy on the grounds that he was teasing
a Hindu girl. Shyamsunder has had other communal cases booked against him
before this case. When we got to know of this, DM Bhat and Shivkumar, both of
whom are lawyers and leaders of the CPM, along with myself went to the place
and then spoke to the Inspector. Based upon our complaint and insistence, an
FIR was filed. The police filed an FIR and registered a case 45/2009 and booked
sections 323, 341 and 504 of the IPC against Shyam Sunder and what the FIR
described as an unknown group. However Shyam Sunder was given bail in the
station itself on the basis that the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr. P. C.)
amendments mandated that nobody can be arrested for an offence where
punishment is less than seven years. If Shyamsunder’s allegation is that Shefantunde
was speaking to a Hindu girl or even teasing a Hindu girl, our point in the press
conference was: why is the Hindu girl not giving a complaint? Who is the Hindu
Jagran Vedike to take this kind of action? Let the girl come forward and put
forward what her complaint is. We don’t know who this girl is as yet. I have a
friend in the police station who says that the girl says that nothing has happened.
The boy himself is really young and very scared after this incident as he was
beaten severely in public. What Renuka Choudhary said is true, there is a
Talibanization of Dakshina Kannada.”
Other Incidents since 2005 which Shekar Detailed:
— The Hindu Jagran Vedike has been active from around 2005. In 2005 in one
incident, it was found out that two boys aged 18 and 20 came to get a buffalo.
Using the threat of attack on the religion, the two boys were beaten up, and their
mobile phones were stolen from them. In this case three people were arrested.
However when they came out on bail, the then BJP MLA Prakash Bandigere on
their release did a procession with them and gave them ‘Hindutva deeksha’.
Within one month these same boys raped a Dalit girl.
— In another incident the Hindu Jagran Vedike has displayed its Om flag on all
parts of the road side. When it was opposed and a complaint was filed with the
Public Works Department, Mamta and Manjula, the two girls who complained,
were hit on the chest. An FIR was lodged in this incident as well.
— In another incident four girls went to Madikere from a village in Belthangadi
to look for work and being unsuccessful were returning home. They took a drop
in a Sumo from a Muslim boy who also lived in their locality, considering that no
other transport was available then. The boy was beaten and the girls were in the
custody of these Hindutva activists who stopped the vehicle till the parents were
informed and took the girls back.

— In the First Grade College at Belthangadi four years back, the organizations
doing social policing had laid down that Hindu girls could only talk to Hindu
girls and Muslim girls to Muslim girls. There was no question of Hindu girls
talking to Muslim boys. Boys and girls who opposed this arrangement were
beaten up by Hindu Jagran Vedike activists. This was four years ago
— A student called Shabir spoke to his classmate who happened to be a Hindu
girl and he was beaten and his bike was broken.
— When boys and girls have been eating ice cream, they have been beaten.
— There was also a notice a few years ago distributed in this taluk asking people
not to buy or sell things to Muslims and to boycott them, socially and
economically.
— You must have seen ditches on the side of the road where dirty water collects.
When Muslim drivers have by mistake splashed the water on passersby who
happen to be Hindu, then they have been beaten.
— There have been innumerable incidents like this in the last four years.
The organizations which are involved in this form of cultural policing are the
Hindu Jagran Vedike, Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Hindu Jagran
Samithi and Hindu Seva Samithi (only in Belthangadi)

3.1 Strategy of Cultural Policing
Numerous questions emerge in the context of the series of
incidents outlined above. Firstly, there is the question of how is
it done. How does anyone know that a boy and girl from different
religions are sitting together on a bus, or for that matter are
drinking juice in a restaurant? How does anyone know that a boy
and girl from different communities are interacting? The way
this works is that the various vigilante groups in Mangalore have
formed an extensive intelligence network involving bus
conductors, time keepers and bus cleaners in all private buses
who pass information on to the Bajrang Dal cadres who then
take action As one student affiliated to the Student Federation of
India (SFI) revealed: “The Sri Rama Sene has been using a wide
network of time-keepers and cleaners in the city buses to spy on
the girls and boys who move together. Sometimes, even if a girl
smiles at a boy, the gang of Sri Rama Sene waits at the destination,
to bash up both of them and take them to the nearest police
station. Police are powerless against political pressure. Students
are scared to even look at each other in the bus. Many time-
keepers and cleaners have got their jobs with the help of Sri
Rama Sene and are loyal to them.They are also paid some amount
for each bus by the Sene.”
Similarly, there are other sources that observe or are present
in public places like restaurants or hotels or parks and are able to
spot and report on social interactions which they perceive as
transgressing the moral code. All this speaks of a very effective
information system percolating down to the level of all public
places, including transportation systems, bus stands, restaurants
and hotels.
This level of social surveillance that gets converted into a
daily vigilantism is truly frightening in its implications. Human
rights groups often use the analogy of the state functioning as an
Orwellian Big Brother. Dakshina Kannada seems to have reversed
the scenario of the state being big brother with society itself
becoming Big Brother.
Understanding Cultural Policing in
Dakshina Kannada
26
chapterIII
How does anyone
know that a boy
and girl from
different religions
are sitting together
on a bus, or for
that matter are
drinking juice in a
restaurant ? How
does anyone know
that a boy and girl
from different
communities are
interacting?

3.2 Role of Organizations Professing Hindutva
The fact that transgressions of moral codes are noticed and observed by local society
is inevitable in any local context. What is different in the contemporary Dakshina
Kannada context is that these transgressions are not just tacitly observed but reported
to groups who then take action to ‘punish’ the transgressors. The significant factor
responsible for cultural policing in Dakshina Kannada is the unhindered presence
of groups such as the Bajrang Dal and the many other Hindu vigilante groups which
openly state that they will not tolerate violations of what they perceive to be the
moral code.
To quote some of the statements to the media by some of these groups in the
context of cultural policing:
1. The Bajrang Dal has claimed responsibility for several of these incidents. The
district head of the organization, Sudarshan Moodabidri, claimed that the outfit
had “solved” over 200 cases in the last two months where Hindus were “caught”
committing the “immoral” act of interacting with members of other communities.
Mr. Moodabidri said, “Sometimes it becomes necessary to use force. Fear of such
action should deter such misadventures. Girls reform themselves once they are
thrashed and humiliated in public, but boys are tougher to control.” (The Hindu,
7.09.08)
2. Sudharshan Moodabidri, told The Hindu, “Sometimes our boys cannot control
their emotions and take it upon themselves to provide instant justice. But we are a
law-abiding organization. As far as possible, we take the errant couple to the police
and let law take its course.” (The Hindu, 9.09.08)
3. Sharan Pumpwell, president of the city unit of the Bajrang Dal, claimed that the
attack on the bus was based on a tip off by one of the students who was also part
of the excursion. “Our boy informed us that several Hindu girls were travelling in
the bus which also had Muslim and Christian boys,” he said. When contacted by
The Hindu, said: “It is a natural reaction from us against those who dare to
commit moral violations.” (The Hindu, 09.09.08)
4. A salesman working with a countrywide mobile service providing company was
attacked allegedly by Bajrang Dal activists. Officials of the Kadri police station
said that no case had been registered in connection with this incident as the two
parties had agreed to “compromise”. They said that the salesman was badly hurt,
but was out of danger. Explaining the reasons behind the attack on the salesman,
Pumpwell said that the salesman had “dared to gain the affection of a Hindu girl”.
(The Hindu, 09.09.08)

5. Despite the convener of Sri Ram Sene, Madhu Urwastore, claiming responsibility
for the incident where a private house party was raided and its occupants grievously
injured, the police have not made any arrests. “We are still investigating the incident,”
said R. Dileep, the Additional Superintendent of Police. (The Hindu, 26.01.09)
6. Claiming responsibility for the pub attack, Prasad Attavar, State deputy convener
of the Sri Ram Sene, told The Hindu that it was a “spontaneous reaction against
women who flouted traditional Indian norms of decency”. He said these women
were Hindus who “dared to get close to Muslim men.” Kumar Malemar, district
convener of the Sene challenged the Bajrang Dal’s claim and insisted that the
attack (on the pub) was carried out by his outfit. (The Hindu 25.01.09)
The fact that the Bajrang Dal has been taking law into their own hands is even
acknowledged by Satish Kumar, the then Superintendent of Police of Dakshina
Kannada district. In an interview with the Fact Finding Team, he said: ‘For the past
ten years it’s the writ of the Bajrang Dal which is running. To prevent this society
must come forward and participate in the legal process.’
In many cases the organizations involved such as the Bajrang Dal and the Sri
Ram Sene have claimed responsibility for attacks which are clearly offences under
the Indian Penal Code of criminal intimidation (Section 506 IPC ), outraging the
modesty of a woman (Section354 IPC) and causing hurt (Section 323 IPC). The
fact that they continue to enjoy impunity for committing offences under the IPC
merely because they have adopted the garb of ‘custodians of culture’ has emboldened
many others to form more vigilante groups. One is compelled to recognize the
existence of not only the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal, but also that
of the Sri Ram Sene, the Hindu Jagran Vedike and the Hindu Jagran Samithi.
There are also local organizations such as the Hindu Seva Samithi which is present
only in Belthangadi as well as Vithala Friends Group present only in Vithala.
As one observer, who has been covering the events in Dakshina Kannada, put
it, “Today saffron is the colour of power. You just walk around with a big red tilak
and see how people treat you. Right from the shop keeper to the bus conductor to
the policeman, everybody gives you respect. Without the tilak you are nothing,
with the tilak you become a power structure.” Munir Kattipalya of the DYFI echoes
this sentiment when he says, “This district is not only communalized but also
progressively criminalized.”
What is indicated by such statements is that there is a strong link between
communalization and criminalization. It is precisely because the state has chosen
not to act when criminal activities are perpetrated under the garb of religion that
criminal elements now feel that they have the sanction to perpetrate violence and

other forms of intimidation by using the garb of religion. This possibly explains the
proliferation of vigilante groups in Dakshina Kannada.
This is also acknowledged by the Superintendent of Police (SP) who gave the
example of the bus carrying students of the Matha Educational Trust Bus being
stoned. In his opinion it was, “a disgruntled employee who got together a band of
people to attack the bus. A criminal action was given a political colour. In another
case a Muslim manager using his influence got a married girl a job as secretary. It
was then found that he misbehaved with her. The girl told her husband and brought
3-4 people to beat him up. Now the Muslim man does not want to complain as he
feels that this entire story of harassment will come out. Rowdyism is given a political
colour.”
This state inaction also progressively emboldens the vigilante groups to widen
the circle of criminal activities. According to journalist Sanjana: “On 23 April,
2008, at the Nehru Maidan in the heart of Mangalore, the Hindu Janajagrithi
Samithi and Sri Ram Sene held a meeting with restricted access. The venue was
cordoned off and non Hindus were not allowed, though Hindu journalists were
allowed. Three things which they did in this meeting were a display of rifles, air
guns and pistols, a photo exhibit of Hindu victims of ‘terrorism’ like Godhra and
the Kashmir Pandits issue and also undertook a recruitment drive. Such Dharma
Jagruthi Sabhas have been held in Goa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Pune etc. BJP
MLA’s like C.T. Ravi and Leila Devi have attended these programmes. There is a
connection between these various groups.” When another source who did not wish
to be named, asked whether arms training could be done, they said, ‘Of course, no
problem.’ When A.M. Prasad, the Inspector General of Police, was asked about
this particular arms exhibition by the same source, he said nothing like that had
happened in Mangalore. As the person put it, ‘I was incredulous as this was happening
in the heart of the city.’
In the opinion of journalist Sanjana, there are close links between organizations
such as Sanathan Sanstha, six of whose activists were arrested in connection with
the Malegaon blasts, and activists or organizations such as Hindu Jagran Vedike
and Sri Ram Sene. In her words, “We are witnessing the next stage of radicalization
of right wing organizations with the formation of Sanathan Sanstha, Abhinav Bharat,
Hindu Jana Jagran Samithi and Sri Ram Sene all of which have affinities with each
other. It is also clear that the BJP for political gain wants to maintain a distance
from these organizations. It is a tenuous tension-filled relationship.”

3.3 Role of the Police
The police in Dakshina Kannada inspire little confidence. There is a widespread
perception that the police are indeed part of the problem. Pattabhi Somayaji was
categorical in his opinion that the police had played a shoddy role. He said that he
was part of a group which prepared a report on the communal riots in 2006. “At
midnight, 12.30 am, police barged into Muslim houses and beat up people including
women. This was in Ullal, Hudinballie and parts of Mangalore as well. In the recent
attacks on churches, police desecrated images and smashed glasses.” He also said
that the reported statement by the Superintendent of Police that if we arrest these
people responsible for harassing and abusing Ashwini, there will be a riot is also
indicative of the mindset.’
With respect to cultural policing in particular, which often involves the
commission of offences such as criminal intimidation, causing hurt, and outraging
the modesty of a woman, the response of senior police officers has been grossly
inadequate. To quote some of these statements:
• Reacting to the incident of a nun being criminally intimidated and abused for the
‘crime’ of speaking to her maid who happened to be Hindu, the Inspector-General
of Police (Western Range) A.M. Prasad said that his department was “closely
monitoring incidents with communal overtones”. However, he said that the people
who ill-treated the nun could not be booked under the law. Since they alleged that
the nun was involved in an act of forcible conversion, their legal locus standi was
sound. (The Hindu, 27.11.08)
• When confronted by the failure of the District Administration to take action
against self-styled vigilante groups that have violated the criminal law with such
impunity, the Inspector-General of Police (Western Range) A.M. Prasad said that
there was no provision under the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C) to book
cases against the vigilantes. These groups targeted people for committing “supposed
moral violations” such as interacting or falling in love with people from other
religious faiths or trying to proselytize someone. Of late, these groups had begun to
bring their victims to the police station demanding that they be booked for their
“crimes”. “Everyone has the right to complain to the police when they think that
someone has violated the law,” Mr. Prasad said. (The Hindu , 29.11.08)
• In an interview with the Fact FindingTeam, Satish Kumar, the then Superintendent
of Police (SP), said that the police had issued strong instructions to the Bajrang
Dal that they must not take the law into their own hands but must produce the
‘offenders’ before us. He stated that these instructions were being adhered to.
Referring to the case of the fifteen-year old girl who committed suicide, he commended

the Bajrang Dal’s action of taking the girl to the police station. In his words, “So
in this case they even thought of the police station which had women constables
and took the offenders and victim there. That shows that there was also some
application of mind.”
Mr. Prasad’s statement that ‘everyone has the right to complain to the police
when they think that someone has violated the law’, willfully ignores the fact that it
is the complainants who are violating not only the criminal law but basic safeguards
of the Constitution of India by policing behaviour and action which come within
the ambit of Constitutional protection. The offences committed by these self styled
vigilantes needs to be taken seriously. Inevitably, before they hand over to the police
those they see as immoral, there is usually loud, aggressive and insulting speech,
physical aggression and every attempt to expose the persons to a demeaning public
gaze and censure. If those who are victimized by these actions attempt to speak
back, then events take on a more violent turn. Such speech is inevitably answered
by intimidatory gestures, beating, assaults and even sexual abuse. None of these
gestures are deemed actionable by the police who seem to treat those who file the
complaint as beyond reproach. When Mr. A.M Prasad blithely asserts that, “their
legal locus standi was sound”, he is ignoring both the criminal law dimension of
cultural policing as well as the far more significant Constitutional law dimension of
the right to privacy, the right to intimate association and the right to freedom of
expression. None of these rights can be made hostage to vigilante action on the
pretext that, ‘their legal locus standi was sound’.
The Superintendent of Police’s appreciation for the law-abiding behavior of
the Bajrang Dal is mirrored by the appreciation of the police by cadres of the Sri
Ram Sene. In an interview with the Fact Finding Team, they said that, “With
respect to our relationship with the police, we have a very good relationship. We
understand that they have to do their duty as well. They have never beaten us or
behaved badly with us.”
The Superintendent of Police’s statement of appreciation for the Bajrang Dal
for not taking the law into their own hands but rather producing the victims before
the police, also willfully ignores the fact that cultural policing by the Bajrang Dal is
not an innocent act. It necessarily involves the commission of various offences
possibly ranging from wrongful confinement to criminal intimidation to causing of
simple hurt. It is the role of the police to inquire into how groups which claim to
enforce morality violate the law. Surely the police cannot be complicit in the violation
of law to enforce morality. Such a situation is the very antithesis of a secular and
democratic state committed to rule of law.

3.4 Role of the Media
The role of the regional press and its complicity in issues of cultural policing has
also come in for sustained criticism. The regional press has played a key role in
fomenting communal hatred through its often biased and one sided reporting. For
example, the Gujarati press played no small role in inciting the massacres that were
to follow the Godhra train incident through its mischievous and distorted reporting.
Similarly large sections of the regional press in Dakshina Kannada are complicit in
cultural policing through their one sided reporting.
When we analyzed the news reports from the Kannada press, particularly from
Jaya Kirana, what is clear was that the newspapers implicitly supported cultural
policing though they were ostensibly only reporting on the incidents. Jaya Kirana is
one of the newspapers that has extensively covered incidents of communal tensions
in Dakshina Kannada. The language of the news reports—for example, the use of
phrases such as “the boy and girl were caught engaging in immoral activities,” “they
were caught engaging in pleasurable activities” as well as the use of Kannada words
such as rasa leele, maja udayisalu banda, chakkanda aaduthiida—imparts a tone of
moral censure as well as a certain prurience to what we might otherwise see as an
exercise of fundamental rights. The reports, especially the ones on the young boys
and girls from Hindu and Muslim communities interacting with each other, are
highly moralistic and severely judgmental in their import. For example, here is how
Jaya Kirana reports the incident of a Muslim boy and a Hindu girl found together at
Dharmastala:
“Immature hearts are misled by such romantic relationships. Though there are so
many reports of tension and violence between couples from different communities, the
fact that these instances of romances between two communities are increasing is such a
paradox.” (‘Student Love—Love that reached the pilgrimage’, Jaya Kirana , 23.11.08)
Many such examples of reports can be found. The reports do not just ‘report’
the incident but also tell the reader who is correct and who is wrong in the incident.
A report on a Christian group which has taken up cultural policing of the people
from their own community reads:
“Similar to Bajrang Dal in Mangalore, which is trying to stop Hindu girls falling into
the trap of boys from ‘another community’, a Christian organization has now begun its work.
They do all the things Bajrang Dal is doing except taking up issue of cow slaughter, and they
will take the legal path to achieve their goal…..SAC (Social Action Centre) began one and a
half years ago when KFD tried to convert a Christian housewife to Islam. ….SAC will
function like a moral and cultural police for the Christian community and bring girls of
Christian community back to track when they are misled by love romances, or by boys of

another community.” (‘New Christian organization to protect young Christian women who
lose track’ Jaya Kirana, 1.9.08) The heading of the report shows clearly how cultural
policing is justified by this newspaper.
Another type of incident where moralistic notions seep into reporting has to
do with the series of attacks by Sri Ram Sene on Miss Femina Beauty contest, on
dance schools classes teaching western or Bollywood dance, and discotheques in
Mangalore. The report, ‘Sri Ram Sene attacks Miss Femina’ reads:
“The public in many instances have objected to these shows as these shows make
adolescent girls exhibit their body. But the tragedy is that parents themselves bring these
girls to participate in these shows. There were photographers who were taking vulgar
photographs of these girls dressed in a minimum amount of clothing. What is surprising
is that the organizers seem have known about the objections raised about these shows
and were expecting trouble and thus had made all arrangements for these girls to escape
from another door when the attacks took place. So when Ram Sene attacked the show,
the girls quickly wore proper clothes and escaped.” (Jaya Kirana, 26.11.08)
Here is a report on the attack on a dance class at Kundapur:
“Many high school girls in Kundapur are getting attracted to these dance classes. It
is said that these girls give vulgar dance performances dressed in skimpy clothes in any
place one asks for. Added to this, they travel with boys at night to various places to give
performances and this has also enraged many people. Though parents were warned not to
send their girls to the classes, things did not change. That is what led Sri Rama Sene to
attack these classes.” (Jaya Kirana, 24.1.09)
The report also has a box item titled ‘Dance classes that mislead’ which talks
about how girls are destroying their lives by taking up these classes as they end up
being sexually abused, fall in love and nurture illusions of a future world.
All these reports are loaded with words such as ‘vulgar’, ‘immoral’, ‘skimpy
dresses’, ‘having fun’, ‘trapping girls’, which derive from regressive notions of sexual,
caste and racial purity.
Jaya Kirana has also covered many incidents of alleged conversions in Christian
institution where Bajrang Dal has attacked nuns or priests allegedly attempting to
convert Hindus. These reports give very little space to the version of the person
who is getting converted; most of the space in the report is devoted to the allegations
by the Bajrang Dal rather than the supposed victim of conversion found in the
company of these nuns or priests. One is left wondering as to why the victim was
with a nun, and their statements seem to suggest something else, which is never
delved into in the report. For example, a report in Jaya Kirana entitled ‘Conversion-
sister in police trap’ reads:

“Anjali (19) is from Bhadravathi and was working at the Velency’s Sacred Heart
Convent for many years. She was converted to Christianity and she was wearing a
pendent with a cross round her neck. They wanted to convert her sister Anusha as well
and got her to the town with the help of her sister…..Sister and Anjali were waiting
near the bus stop for Anusha. Getting proper information on this, Bajrang Dal caught
hold of them at the bus stand.” (25.22.08)
The above report is titled ‘Sister in police trap’, but the report reveals that it
was the Bajrang Dal that caught her and took her to the police. In many of the
incidents, the reports mention that the police warned and advised the people who
were targeted in the incidents, forcibly obtained a written statement from them not
to repeat such actions again. The problematic role of the police in such cases is
glaring, and escapes the attention of the local media. Equally, the fact that the
reports cite only Hindutva activists without bothering to ascertain the truth of what
happened by either speaking to the victims or passers-by indicates a clear bias of
the local media. The fact that there is no space for expression of any other opinion
in this one-sided reporting corroborates the opinion of Pattabhi Somayaji that the
local papers are nothing but a mouthpiece of the Sangh Parivar.
Interview with Pattabhi Somayaji
“The media has also played a very shoddy role. They are hand in glove with
the Sangh Parivar. They not only promote but also organize campaigns of hate.
Vijay Karnataka and Uday Vani are particularly egregious violators. They refer
to Muslims as ‘Anyamatiyobba’ (one belongs to another faith) I will give you two
examples. Two to three years ago, Sari Palace, which was owned by Muslims and
had Hindu workers, all of them used to go on a picnic together. When they
started on the picnic, the bus was stopped in the Pumpwell area and people were
robbed, beaten up and shooed away. The next day Uday Vani reported this, and
though the bus had its name Sharada Travels in large, the computer-generated
image published by Uday Vani somehow managed to remove the name Sharada
from the picture even when the picture of the bus was shown so that nobody
would know that a bus having a Hindu name was stoned.
After the stripping of Hajappa and Hasannappa, there were huge protests
of 8000-10000 people. There was a rally of over 8000 people in Udupi. Udayvani
carried a picture of people waving green flags which are normally seen on top of
mosques with a caption below which said, ‘This is not Pakistan but Udupi’. A
senior activist Sri Ram Diwan went to Udayvani and asked for an explanation
by telling them that this was not a Pakistan flag. For the first time, Udayvani

apologized and said that they will not report this again. Since then Udayvani
does not carry any report on the communal issue when we do any activity.
As far as the pub incident was concerned it was literally the camera man
saying action when the incident started. As far as the younger generation is
concerned, this is the knowledge and the truth that they get. Youngsters are fed on
this.”
3.5 Role of the Public
While we earlier delineated how cultural policing works and how it relies upon a
network of surveillance based in society, what has also to be mentioned is the role
of the wider society which is not directly involved in these attacks.
In the opinion of Munir Kattipalya, “Though there is clear communal mindset
among common people, through experience people know that groups like the Bajrang
Dal and the Sri Ram Sene are only out for political gain. I would say that the
communalizing effort has been ongoing for the last twenty years. Previously there
would be 500 to 1000 people out on the streets to protect their culture and their
religion by preventing the transport of cows for slaughter. Now only 5-10 people
will come out.”
Similarly, another observer of the Dakshina Kannada scene notes: “Their
support is not that great. How many people are involved in these incidents? Not a
large number, the vast majority of of people do not actively participate in these
incidents.”
Yet, regardless of the limited support these groups enjoy from the people,
what is apparent in terms of the attitude of the larger public is an unwillingness to
get involved even when blatantly unconstitutional actions are being perpetrated.
As cultural critic Dr. Lata Mani observes, “When people fail to mobilize and
stand up to fascist forces it is not a sign of tacit agreement. It may be out of fear; or
a hope that it will all die down soon. Even when there appears to be broader support
for hate groups it is often short lived.”
However, the fact that at the end of the day it is only a limited number of
people that are involved in these actions and that a firm response by even a few
members of the public can make a difference provides a window of hope In this
context, the story of Pawan Kumar Shetty and his brave attempt to protect the girls
who were attacked in the pub attack is instructive. (See the section on the Amnesia
Pub Attack in this report)

3.6 Impact of Cultural Policing
The main impact of cultural policing is to spread a climate of fear across Dakshina
Kannada. This increases the sense of insecurity of ordinary people. People begin to
think twice about performing many ordinary actions such as going out for dinner
or going to a dance class or drinking juice by the wayside. The members of our fact-
finding team spoke to the students of Aloysius College and University College,
Mangalore, who articulated this sense of unease about the situation in Mangalore
today.
Opinions of Students of Aloysius College, Mangalore
• The change in Mangalore since this pub incident happened is that girls are
scared to go out. Previously when I went out around 8.30 pm nobody
would say anything. Now autos keep asking me where I am going and
whether I need a drop. It’s really none of their business. I don’t think anyone
other than my family has the right to ask me these questions. Today the
youth are silent. Youth spirit is not there at all.
• We have rights and freedom to express ourselves. But this right is not there
in Mangalore. There is a fear to walk in the street, to go to a hotel and to
have a bite.
• I am from Kerala and when I first joined I could walk out at night as it
was a very safe place. In the last two three years, my parents say be careful,
don’t go out. Because the media has covered the pub attack and we have
all seen the images, back at home people are scared for us. Nobody has a
right to define Indian culture for me. If the government has not defined
Indian culture, who are they to tell us what to do?
• I think that the pub attack was a cheap publicity stunt and now Muthalik
is splashed across the TV screens. He did not succeed and has lost face due
to things like the pink chaddi campaign. Indian culture is known for its
diversity and people today are stronger in feeling for the other religion.
However, my parents call me from back home and ask me to be careful in
not talking to people from other religions. However, I feel that people have
become stronger after this attack.
• I was sent to study here. Now I don’t think my brother will be allowed by
my mother to come and study here. It’s wrong to say that a girl’s culture is
to be at home by 9 o’clock. As journalists, we will have to be prepared to
be out at all times. We have to react to what is going on, only I don’t know
how to react.

Cultural Policing in Dakshina Kannada - Vigilante Attacks on Women and Minorities, 2008-09

Cultural Policing in Dakshina Kannada - Vigilante Attacks on Women and Minorities, 2008-09

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